History Main / ContinuityPorn

* Definitely present in ''[[Literature/WarriorCats Bluestar's Prophecy]]''. Scenes from later books replicated in full with detailed explanations of what was going on, lots of cameos of Field Guide characters, and backstories for all the major villains of the [[MythArc first arc]]. As well, the book did it's best to give backstories to almost all the characters in the [[CastHerd main group]]. This was [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters kind of difficult.]] It even gave a large role to a character who was only mentioned once in the entire series and didn't get on the cast list in that book ([[spoiler: Rosetail]]).

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* Definitely present in ''[[Literature/WarriorCats Bluestar's Prophecy]]''. Scenes from later books replicated in full with detailed explanations of what was going on, lots of cameos of Field Guide characters, and backstories for all the major villains of the [[MythArc first arc]]. As well, the book did it's best to give backstories to almost all the characters in the [[CastHerd main group]]. This was [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters kind of difficult.]] It even gave a large role to a character who was only mentioned once in the entire series and didn't get on the cast list in that book ([[spoiler: Rosetail]]).(Rosetail).

Reason: Unneccessary spoiler tag. She's one of the protagonist's closest friends in BP, but doesn't affect the plot, nor does she in her original appearance, so there's absolutely no need to hide her name.

* Creator/MichaelConnelly novel ''Literature/ADarknessMoreThanNight'' teams up Literature/HarryBosch, star of about 2/3 of Connelly's novels, and Terry [=McCaleb=], protagonist of non-Bosch novel ''Film/BloodWork''. It throws in an appearance by Jack [=McEvoy=] of non-Bosch novel ''Literature/ThePoet'', for no particular reason. And it even includes a reference to Thelma the parole officer from non-Bosch novel ''Literature/VoidMoon'', letting the reader know that Thelma survived getting shot in that book and has gone back to work.

** Roller coaster the musical turns this UpToEleven. Some of the bigger examples include one of Candace's songs listing a ton of the things that Phineas and Ferb had done up to that point and the finale song which features almost every character that had ever appeared in the show.

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** Roller coaster the musical RollerCoaster: The Musical turns this UpToEleven. Some of the bigger examples include one of Candace's songs listing a ton of the things that Phineas and Ferb had done up to that point and the finale song which features almost every character that had ever appeared in the show.

* ''MortalKombat'' had at least ''four'' examples of this: the Konquest mode of ''Deception'' (which was quickly thrown into CanonDiscontinuity despite a halfway-decent attempt to explain WhereAreTheyNow for each of the forgotten characters), ''Armageddon'' (which was what ''Deception's'' Konquest Mode would've been if TheyJustDidntCare), ''Annihilation'' (which tried to cram as many character references as possible, to the detriment of the plot), and ''Conquest'' (with a C, which gave several mortal characters {{Identical Grandfather}}s ''just'' so fans of the show can see them despite being 500 years before they were technically supposed to appear). And one has to wonder why people say plot doesn't matter in an MK game...

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* ''MortalKombat'' had at least ''four'' examples of this: the Konquest mode of ''Deception'' (which was quickly thrown into CanonDiscontinuity despite a halfway-decent attempt to explain WhereAreTheyNow for each of the forgotten characters), ''Armageddon'' (which was what ''Deception's'' Konquest Mode would've been if TheyJustDidntCare), ''Armageddon'', ''Annihilation'' (which tried to cram as many character references as possible, to the detriment of the plot), and ''Conquest'' (with a C, which gave several mortal characters {{Identical Grandfather}}s ''just'' so fans of the show can see them despite being 500 years before they were technically supposed to appear). And one has to wonder why people say plot doesn't matter in an MK game...

->''"Now, what part of [[Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial this horrible, cheesy, low-budget television special]] would you expect to be official canon in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Universe? The Answer? All of it. [[YouMeanXmas Life Day?]] Canonical. [[UnfortunateNames Itchy? Lumpy?]] Canonical. Harvey Korman in drag is an official part of the ''Star Wars'' Universe! Continuity Kills."''

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->''"Now, what part of [[Film/TheStarWarsHolidaySpecial this horrible, cheesy, low-budget television special]] would you expect to be official canon in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Universe? The Answer? All of it. [[YouMeanXmas Life Day?]] Day? Canonical. [[UnfortunateNames Itchy? Lumpy?]] Lumpy? Canonical. Harvey Korman in drag is an official part of the ''Star Wars'' Universe! Continuity Kills."''

** "Planet of the Daleks" has a whole bunch of scenes referencing "The Daleks" and "The Daleks' Master Plan" with little explanation, stories from ten years ago before the age of home video or even novelisations.** Some pinpoint the first major FanWank moment in the Classic series as being the Fifth Doctor's post-regeneration trauma causing him to go through impressions of all four previous Doctors in "Castrovalva". There's a similar, more compressed moment in "The Mysterious Planet" when the Sixth Doctor, after being knocked out, reverts to the Fourth Doctor's personality for a little while until snapping out of it. More recently, a Cyberman duplicate of the Eleventh Doctor glitched out and began acting like the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors before snapping out of it.

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** "Planet "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS10E4PlanetOfTheDaleks Planet of the Daleks" Daleks]]" has a whole bunch of scenes referencing "The Daleks" "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]" and "The "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan" Plan]]" with little explanation, stories from ten years ago before the age of home video or even novelisations.** Some pinpoint the first major FanWank moment in the Classic series as being the Fifth Doctor's post-regeneration trauma causing him to go through impressions of all four previous Doctors in "Castrovalva". "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E1Castrovalva Castrovalva]]". There's a similar, more compressed moment in "The "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS23E1TheMysteriousPlanet The Mysterious Planet" Planet]]" when the Sixth Doctor, after being knocked out, reverts to the Fourth Doctor's personality for a little while until snapping out of it. More recently, a Cyberman duplicate of the Eleventh Doctor glitched out and began acting like the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors before snapping out of it.

** And then there's {{spinoff}} show ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' serial "Death of the Doctor", which is hardcore fetish Continuity Porn despite being not actually a ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode. (And it's in a kids' show, ironically.) It's two half-hour episodes consisting almost entirely of references to classic ''Who'', with former character Jo Grant brought back to star alongside Sarah Jane Smith ''37 1/2 years'' since she last played the Doctor's onscreen companion. This culminated in scriptwriter Creator/RussellTDavies stopping the action dead just before the closing credits to allow Sarah Jane to fill us all in on what classic companions were doing, including Ian, Barbara, Harry, Tegan, and Ace. The target audience had no idea who these people were -- but fans of the classic series ''did''. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming ensued]].

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** And then there's {{spinoff}} show ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' serial "Death "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS4E5E6DeathOfTheDoctor Death of the Doctor", Doctor]]", which is hardcore fetish Continuity Porn despite being not actually a ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode. (And it's in a kids' show, ironically.) It's two half-hour episodes consisting almost entirely of references to classic ''Who'', with former character Jo Grant brought back to star alongside Sarah Jane Smith ''37 1/2 years'' since she last played the Doctor's onscreen companion. This culminated in scriptwriter Creator/RussellTDavies stopping the action dead just before the closing credits to allow Sarah Jane to fill us all in on what classic companions were doing, including Ian, Barbara, Harry, Tegan, and Ace. The target audience had no idea who these people were -- but fans of the classic series ''did''. [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming ensued]].

** "Into The Dalek", made in 2014, is an episode that deals very heavily with the [[WhatYouAreInTheDark decision]] made by the Fourth Doctor back in "Genesis of the Daleks" (made in 1975) to the point of not making a whole lot of emotional sense if you don't know the other story. (For instance, the story puts big emphasis on a scene where the Twelfth Doctor puts two wires together.) While "Genesis of the Daleks" is probably ''the'' most famous Classic story, other than Davros's appearance in "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" it was never particularly addressed in the new show. There was ample opportunity to use it as a source for angst, but even that was avoided because there was [[GreatOffscreenWar lots of much more recent Dalek angst for the Doctor to get over first]]. (An exception was in the ExpandedUniverse, which suggests that Four's actions accidentally started the Last Great Time War to begin with.) This might be a reason why a 2015 VanillaEdition DVD compilation of new series Dalek episodes included "Genesis of the Daleks" as the "bonus" story from the classic series -- on the same disc as "Into the Dalek" no less.** 2015's "The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Witch's Familiar" draws even more heavily upon "Genesis of the Daleks", as it centers upon the consequences of [[spoiler: Twelve encountering young Davros on a Skaro battlefield, then abandoning him mid-rescue upon realizing who he is]]; near the end of the first episode it includes a snippet of the aforementioned Fourth Doctor scene by way of drawing parallels between Four and Twelve's actions.

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** "Into The Dalek", "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E2IntoTheDalek Into the Dalek]]", made in 2014, is an episode that deals very heavily with the [[WhatYouAreInTheDark decision]] made by the Fourth Doctor back in "Genesis "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E4GenesisOfTheDaleks Genesis of the Daleks" Daleks]]" (made in 1975) to the point of not making a whole lot of emotional sense if you don't know the other story. (For instance, the story puts big emphasis on a scene where the Twelfth Doctor puts two wires together.) While "Genesis of the Daleks" is probably ''the'' most famous Classic story, other than Davros's appearance in "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End" it was never particularly addressed in the new show. There was ample opportunity to use it as a source for angst, but even that was avoided because there was [[GreatOffscreenWar lots of much more recent Dalek angst for the Doctor to get over first]]. (An exception was in the ExpandedUniverse, which suggests that Four's actions accidentally started the Last Great Time War to begin with.) This might be a reason why a 2015 VanillaEdition DVD compilation of new series Dalek episodes included "Genesis of the Daleks" as the "bonus" story from the classic series -- on the same disc as "Into the Dalek" no less.** 2015's "The "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E1TheMagiciansApprentice The Magician's Apprentice"/"The Apprentice]]" / "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E2TheWitchsFamiliar The Witch's Familiar" Familiar]]" draws even more heavily upon "Genesis of the Daleks", as it centers upon the consequences of [[spoiler: Twelve encountering young Davros on a Skaro battlefield, then abandoning him mid-rescue upon realizing who he is]]; near the end of the first episode it includes a snippet of the aforementioned Fourth Doctor scene by way of drawing parallels between Four and Twelve's actions.

* ''FriskyDingo'' does this so much that in one episode the part that says previously on Frisky Dingo just has [[spoiler: Killface saying if you want to know what happened I recommend iTunes]].

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* ''FriskyDingo'' ''WesternAnimation/FriskyDingo'' does this so much that in one episode the part that says previously on Frisky Dingo just has [[spoiler: Killface saying if you want to know what happened I recommend iTunes]].

* During the intro to EpicMickey, after Mickey practically [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ruined Wasteland for everyone in it,]] we're reintroduced to Mickey's overall history throughout the years, from [[ClassicDisneyShorts Steamboat Willie]], to Fantasia, to [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Mickey's Christmas Carol]].

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* During the intro to EpicMickey, after Mickey practically [[NiceJobBreakingItHero ruined Wasteland for everyone in it,]] we're reintroduced to Mickey's overall history throughout the years, from [[ClassicDisneyShorts [[WesternAnimation/ClassicDisneyShorts Steamboat Willie]], to Fantasia, to [[Literature/AChristmasCarol Mickey's Christmas Carol]].

** ''ComicBook/GothamCitySirens'' has two cases of continuity porn, so far. When SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker attacks the three 'reformed' villains he uses the phrase "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed," when powering up his super blimp in an obvious throwback to [[Series/{{Batman}} the Adam West series]]. Later it turns out to be a fake Joker who was really Gaggy, a circus midget who was one of Joker's first sidekicks who first appeared in 1966! Talk about a throwback.** In pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] ''{{Superman}}'' comics, [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] guy in charge of Superman continuity was PromotedFanboy E. Nelson Bridwell. Bridwell adored the minutia of the Superman mythos, and whenever he personally penned a story, it was chock full of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]], often to obscure [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] stuff. In stories ''focusing'' on the history of the character and his world (such as the original, pre-Crisis ''Krypton Chronicles'' and ''World of Krypton'' miniseries), this worked very well, but in stories that were set in the present day, the constant references did sometimes feel intrusive.** ''[[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]: Year One'' and ''JLA: Incarnations'' were both written to show how the Justice League's history "really" happened in the ComicBook/PostCrisis universe. It helped that both focused on the characters' personalities and interactions rather than harping on minutae, however.

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** ''ComicBook/GothamCitySirens'' has two cases of continuity porn, so far. porn. When SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker ComicBook/TheJoker attacks the three 'reformed' villains he uses the phrase "Atomic batteries to power, turbines to speed," when powering up his super blimp in an obvious throwback to [[Series/{{Batman}} the Adam West series]]. Later it turns out to be a fake Joker who was really Gaggy, a circus midget who was one of Joker's first sidekicks who first appeared in 1966! Talk about a throwback.** In pre-ComicBook/{{Crisis|on Infinite Earths}} [[UsefulNotes/TheBronzeAgeOfComicBooks Bronze Age]] ''{{Superman}}'' ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics, [[Creator/DCComics DC's]] guy in charge of Superman continuity was PromotedFanboy E. Nelson Bridwell. Bridwell adored the minutia of the Superman mythos, and whenever he personally penned a story, it was chock full of [[ContinuityNod Continuity Nods]], often to obscure [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] stuff. In stories ''focusing'' on the history of the character and his world (such as the original, pre-Crisis ''Krypton Chronicles'' and ''World of Krypton'' miniseries), this worked very well, but in stories that were set in the present day, the constant references did sometimes feel intrusive.** ''[[JusticeLeagueOfAmerica ''[[Franchise/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica JLA]]: Year One'' and ''JLA: Incarnations'' were both written to show how the Justice League's history "really" happened in the ComicBook/PostCrisis universe. It helped that both focused on the characters' personalities and interactions rather than harping on minutae, however.

*** ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' is probably Busiek's most Continuity Pornastic piece of writing. Among other things, it explains how almost every major event in the history of the Avengers - and the histories of the Avengers in every parallel universe - was either caused by Immortus or cleaned up by him afterwards [[ThePlan to save the human race from the Time Keepers]]. It also spent an entire issue detailing the history of sometime BigBad Kang the Conquerer. However, because time travel is an important part of the series, and because the story is generally good, it usually manages to get away with it.

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*** ''ComicBook/AvengersForever'' is probably Busiek's most Continuity Pornastic piece of writing. Among other things, it explains how almost every major event in the history of the Avengers - and the histories of the Avengers in every parallel universe - was either caused by Immortus or cleaned up by him afterwards [[ThePlan to save the human race from the Time Keepers]]. It also spent an entire issue detailing the history of sometime BigBad Kang the Conquerer.Conqueror. However, because time travel is an important part of the series, and because the story is generally good, it usually manages to get away with it.

*** An earlier example of Creator/KurtBusiek, before with ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'', a four-issue mini-series that managed to encapsulate the entire early history of Marvel Comics (from World War II to the Death of Gwen Stacy) and present it from a street-level point of view, showing how an average man sees the Marvel Universe. ** Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'' run was basically a celebration of the characters entire published history up to that point, with Priest making sure to incorporate something from pretty much every previous take on the character, even the stuff that wasn't well regarded (such as JackKirby's run). Priest has said that in hindsight, this was probably part of the reason why [[AcclaimedFlop it didn't sell very well despite being critically acclaimed]]. ** Marvel pulled one of these with ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. Character derailment you say? ''Alien mole!'' [[WolverinePublicity Too many of one guy]] to make sense in universe? ''Alien double!'' Character death of your favorite minor character, even though it was a powerful move and strongly affected the rest of the characters? ''Alien doppelganger!''

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*** An earlier example of Creator/KurtBusiek, before with Creator/KurtBusiek was ''ComicBook/{{Marvels}}'', a four-issue mini-series that managed to encapsulate the entire early history of Marvel Comics (from World War II to the Death of Gwen Stacy) and present it from a street-level point of view, showing how an average man sees the Marvel Universe. ** Creator/{{Christopher Priest|Comics}}'s ''Comicbook/BlackPanther'' run was basically a celebration of the characters character's entire published history up to that point, with Priest making sure to incorporate something from pretty much every previous take on the character, even the stuff that wasn't well regarded (such as JackKirby's Creator/JackKirby's run). Priest has said that in hindsight, this was probably part of the reason why [[AcclaimedFlop it didn't sell very well despite being critically acclaimed]]. ** Marvel pulled one of these with ''ComicBook/SecretInvasion''. Character derailment derailment, you say? ''Alien mole!'' [[WolverinePublicity Too many of one guy]] to make sense in universe? ''Alien double!'' Character death of your favorite minor character, even though it was a powerful move and strongly affected the rest of the characters? ''Alien doppelganger!''

** ''ComicBook/EarthX'' and it's two sequel series Universe X and Paradise X are intentional works of pure continuity porn. Set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (from the year 1999), the story explains, combines, and wraps up every continuity snarl, dangling plot-thread, and unexplained coincidence the writers could lay their hands on, including characters, dimensions, and devices no one's written about for decades. Fortunately, each series also features InteractiveNarrator characters to keep the readers on top of what they absolutely need to know for the plot, but it's still very likely you'll to spend more time reading ThisWiki or TheOtherWiki than the books themselves.

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** ''ComicBook/EarthX'' and it's its two sequel series Universe X and Paradise X are intentional works of pure continuity porn. Set TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture (from the year 1999), the story explains, combines, and wraps up every continuity snarl, dangling plot-thread, and unexplained coincidence the writers could lay their hands on, including characters, dimensions, and devices no one's written about for decades. Fortunately, each series also features InteractiveNarrator characters to keep the readers on top of what they absolutely need to know for the plot, but it's still very likely you'll to spend more time reading ThisWiki or TheOtherWiki than the books themselves.

** Gary Russell loves continuity porrn as much as Hinton did. The Twelfth Doctor novel ''Big Bang Generation'' (which features Literature/BerniceSummerfield and her friends, and therefore contains a huge chunk of Big Finish continuity anyway) refers to the [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Pakhar BurrowWorld]], River Song and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut the Stormcage Containment Facility]], the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Generational]] [[Literature/ContinuityErrors Professor Candy]] family, and [[Franchise/IrisWildthyme the Obverse]]. As well as outside references to Andrew Pixley's ''[[Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine DWM]] Archive'' (as "the Repository Banks of Pixlie") and the ''Doctor Who'' collector cards that came with Sky Ray ice lollies. In the ''first chapter''. It calms down a bit after that.

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** Gary Russell loves continuity porrn as much as Hinton did. The Twelfth Doctor novel ''Big Bang Generation'' (which features Literature/BerniceSummerfield and her friends, and therefore contains a huge chunk of Big Finish continuity anyway) refers to the [[Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures Pakhar BurrowWorld]], River Song and [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E1TheImpossibleAstronaut the Stormcage Containment Facility]], the [[Recap/DoctorWhoS32E8LetsKillHitler Generational]] generational]] [[Literature/ContinuityErrors Professor Candy]] family, and [[Franchise/IrisWildthyme the Obverse]]. As well as outside references to Andrew Pixley's ''[[Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine DWM]] Archive'' (as "the Repository Banks of Pixlie") and the ''Doctor Who'' collector cards that came with Sky Ray ice lollies. In the ''first chapter''. It calms down a bit after that.

** PeterDavid is in love with this trope in his novels, most specifically ''StarTrekNewFrontier''. Up to and including implying that [[spoiler:NumberOne and Nurse Chapel were the same person]], and explaining why the voice of Federation starships universally sounds like Majel Barrett Roddenberry. [[spoiler:Number One, aka Captain Pike's XO, was a computer expert and programmed the voices.]]

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** PeterDavid Creator/PeterDavid is in love with this trope in his novels, most specifically ''StarTrekNewFrontier''. Up to and including implying that [[spoiler:NumberOne and Nurse Chapel were the same person]], and explaining why the voice of Federation starships universally sounds like Majel Barrett Roddenberry. [[spoiler:Number One, aka Captain Pike's XO, was a computer expert and programmed the voices.]]

** Some pinpoint the first major FanWank moment in the Classic series as being the Fifth Doctor's post-regeneration trauma causing him to go through impressions of all four previous Doctors in "Castrovalva". There's a similar, more compressed moment in "The Mysterious Planet" when the Sixth Doctor, after being knocked out, reverts to the Fourth Doctor's personality for a little while until snapping out of it. Most recently, a Cyberman duplicate of the Eleventh Doctor glitched out and began acting like the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors before snapping out of it.

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** Some pinpoint the first major FanWank moment in the Classic series as being the Fifth Doctor's post-regeneration trauma causing him to go through impressions of all four previous Doctors in "Castrovalva". There's a similar, more compressed moment in "The Mysterious Planet" when the Sixth Doctor, after being knocked out, reverts to the Fourth Doctor's personality for a little while until snapping out of it. Most More recently, a Cyberman duplicate of the Eleventh Doctor glitched out and began acting like the Second, Third and Fourth Doctors before snapping out of it.

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